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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27493348">A life for a life</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoenOut/pseuds/ZoenOut'>ZoenOut</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Good Omens (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Assault, Attempted Murder, Crying, Men Crying, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Revenge</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 02:08:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>648</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27493348</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoenOut/pseuds/ZoenOut</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Crowley is gardening, just doing his thing. But then a furious demon shows up with revenge in mind.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hastur &amp; Ligur (Good Omens), Hastur/Ligur (Good Omens)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A life for a life</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Crowley was in the garden doing what he usually did when Aziraphale wasn’t home, digging in the soft soil and muttering profanities. It was now dusk but snake-eyes were about as effective in daylight as they were in the twilight. His hands were hard at work when he heard it. The ground breaking. It was rumbling, he could feel the vibrations in every body part touching the ground. His hands, his feet, his knees. They were all shaking with the quake of the earth. He turned around when he felt something else, anger. A whole lot of anger. It burned. And there was that dirty blond hair coming up by the pink camellias. </p><p>Hastur had never been someone to hold feelings in, especially not ones of anger, and he wouldn’t start today. He grabbed the serpent by the neck, resisting the urge to make it quick and squeeze until his windpipe broke. Resisting the urge to just crush as he knew he could. He saw the serpents eyes grow cold with fear.</p><p>Crowley was fighting to stay on the ground. He was fighting for breath, trying to dig through the duke’s wrists with his painted fingernails. It wasn’t working. It felt as if his head would explode. He looked at the duke, trying to read his expression. He wasn’t smiling. He always smiled when he inflicted violence. He wasn’t smiling. Crowley tried to speak.<br/>
“Why?” he choked out. It was all he could manage.</p><p>The serpent had the audacity to ask “why”. As if he hadn’t had enough of that in heaven. Pathetic. Hastur tightened his hand even more, he saw the serpent’s eyes roll back and felt him squirm. Precisely what he was after. He loosened the grip a bit, it would be a shame if he fainted already. Well, he asked so why not give him an answer?<br/>
“You should’ve died down there. You deserved it. You still deserve it.” He squeezed. “A life for a life, Crawly.” </p><p>Oh. So that was what this was about. Ligur. He tried to get some breath into his lungs. His vision was starting to go, it was tunnel vision at this point.<br/>
“You were…” he gasped for breath, “gon kill… me.”<br/>
He felt the grip loosen and quickly took a breath, it tightened again just as quickly.</p><p>“We were following orders!” Hastur shouted. “You knew the risks you were taking! You knew!”<br/>
He couldn’t keep holding this disgrace, this bastard. He tossed him down to the ground like a ragdoll and threw down his foot before the serpent could slither away. The boot landed right on the neck, perfect.<br/>
“You knew! We were just doing our job!” He paused. “Ligur was just doing his job.”<br/>
He felt something hot slip down his face. Something unfamiliar, something humiliating and disgusting.</p><p>Silence. Crowley heard nothing but silence. He breathed as heavily as he could, his neck hurt. The scent of soil filled his nostrils. The boot was still on his neck but it felt more distant somehow. He turned his head as much as he could manage, which wasn’t much. But it was enough. Enough to see the tar-black tears running down from the duke’s tar-black eyes. This was an opportunity. And the duke’s anger was rubbing off on Crowley.</p><p>“You murdered him.”<br/>
Hastur stared at the battered man but he didn’t really see him. He saw the steaming pile of clothes, he heard himself scream. He snapped back and put more of his weight on the neck of the murderer. The serpent squirmed. And then began laughing. He laughed and Hastur felt humiliated. Even more humiliated. The serpent laughed even more, he was left wheezing on the ground.<br/>
“That’s nothing!” the serpent said, “I’ve seen death before. I’ve seen people burn alive, I’ve seen their necks snap like popsicle-sticks.” His eyes grew distant. “You haven’t, honored duke. But I have.”</p>
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